


A Delicious Drowning

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Tintin (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1627577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      I do not own Tintin, I am not making any money off of this, &c. Any and all mistakes, unsatisfactory results, and abuse of various parts of speech are entirely my fault. Thanks to Rowan for <br/>putting up with me while writing this. The title is an allusion to Arthur Symons' sonnet "The Opium Smoker." <br/><p>Written for Toft</p>
    </blockquote>





	A Delicious Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Tintin, I am not making any money off of this,  &c. Any and all mistakes, unsatisfactory results, and abuse of various parts of speech are entirely my fault. Thanks to Rowan for   
> putting up with me while writing this. The title is an allusion to Arthur Symons' sonnet "The Opium Smoker."   
> 
> 
> Written for Toft

 

 

I think I am supposed to include an author's note separately, but I've changed a couple of things you should know before reading. In canon, _The Blue Lotus_ is set in 1934, and _Tintin in Tibet_ is set in 1958, but neither boy ages. For the sake of realism and historicity, I have set the Tibet part in 1948.

1

_Kuli._

Bitter.

It was so characteristic of Chinese life that even foreigners knew it, had made it a noun. Coolie.

Chang was not a coolie. His father was. He had moved from their town to a port, looking for work. Chang had gone with, to learn things, mostly about how to become a coolie himself. The pidgin English that made Chinese sound stupid and infantile, how to avoid the opium-smuggling triads, and the meaning of xinku. Hard, exhausting. Sometimes they managed to come home. The last time was when the flood hit.

His parents and the whole town were dead. Even the railroad tracks the foreigners had imposed on the landscape were gone. Chang still instinctively shouted for help when the water got him. He couldn't swim, and panic took control of his body. The thrashing actually drove him deeper, but didn't stop until he lost consciousness and started to inhale water.

"You okay? You now safe."

Chang could barely hear the words over his own coughing. They were garbled and toneless, but recognizably Chinese.

"Hello, okay? How are you? What is your name?"

His spluttering and gasping subsided. "Chang Chongchen." He focused on the speaker: a foreigner. Shock stabbed him, and despite his aching throat, asked, "But why did you save me?" The other didn't understand, so he repeated the question more slowly in Chinese and in pidgin. The foreigner made it clear his confusion was not at the words.

"I understand, but why would I not save you?"

2

Tintin. 

What a strange sound. 

What a strange person. Strange, but very intriguing. They managed to talk in mangled Mandarin and pidgin English. Tintin told Chang about his background and said he could speak English, but was not British or American. There was some confusion on that point; though they were learning each other's languages, Chang was still not sure what a Belgium was.

Still, when a strange man offered to take their picture, and instead trained a tommy gun on them, Chang knocked Tintin out of the way. They both escaped, and both reflected that the more important things did not need words. 

Tintin gradually began to make what he was doing more clear. He needed to stop the Japanese (and other foreigners, who tried to arrest Tintin) from stealing people and making them crazy. Opium was also involved.

Once in Shanghai, they could talk more freely. One of the Sons of the Dragon spoke perfect English, and Tintin conveyed the entire situation perfectly to Chang. He also developed a plan for utterly routing the smugglers.

The Sons of the Dragon furnished Chang with a semiautomatic, and Chang and the other members of the society jumped out of the barrel at the right time-but just barely. They exposed the Japanese involvement in the smuggling conspiracy, international fallout ensued, Chang was gratefully adopted by Old Wang, and Tintin left.

Chang was happy, but watching his friend's departure made something unpleasant lurch inside of him. That was the first sign.

3

They lost contact. Chang rigorously practiced his English and French in the hope he would be able to show them off in a letter, but Tintin never wrote. Then the Japanese came. Shanghai was a target. 

There was a lot for Chang to do. His adopted father trained him intensively in foreign languages, and converted his secret society into a fulltime guerilla organization. After his older brother was killed, Chang had to help.

Whispers of the civil war had begun in the early 1940s, even with the Japanese still advancing. The moment Shanghai was liberated from Japanese rule, Old Wang decided to use their connections to flee to Hong Kong.

Chang became profoundly unhappy and lonely. Helping Wang with the antique shop he had set up in Hong Kong was not enough. His friends who had not been killed during the wars had been left behind in Shanghai. There were also things that were . . . wrong. He had ignored them, but in the peace and boredom of Hong Kong, he had to admit kissing made him think of Tintin.

He also wondered why Tintin did not get back into contact with him. The war was over, and he knew Tintin was alive-had occasionally seen him in the news reels that preceded films. Obviously Tintin had forgotten him.

Opium was still easy to come by in Hong Kong. Chang found it, and quickly found the pleasant vacuity it offered more appealing than not. He dreamt two years away.

4

Chang didn't forget his irritation at the delay until the plane began to descend. Abruptly. _Fall_ , really. He didn't panic. Death might be like one of his dreams.

His resignation saved his life. The few other passengers had run to the cockpit; the plane landed nose first.

Waking up-being alive-was a shock. It would soon pass. He was weak, injured, and exposed. There was nothing to eat, and no opium.

He did not get far before he collapsed on a rock.

 _Tintin_. Tintin will help. Tintin, who had not seen or talked to him in twelve years, would come to help. It was absurd, but grew into conviction. He carved his name on the rock in Roman letters and Chinese characters.

That was when a big, smelly ape arrived to eat him. He fainted.

He was surprised to find himself cared for. Perhaps the ape (surely not the yeti?) was trying to fatten him up. What a ludicrous situation.

Eventually, he realized the yeti was lonely and wanted him for companionship. Chang was also lonely and thanked the yeti by talking to it (he?) about everything. Including Tintin. The yeti couldn't understand, and Chang had always wanted to tell someone. 

Within days, his body was in withdrawal. He was nauseous and miserable. Then fever came. Chang knew he was dying and slipped in and out of delirium.

Then there was a voice, saying his name. That wasn't a fever dream. 

"Tintin . . . I knew you'd come." 

 


End file.
